"This was out of the blue, completely" … Matilda, Bokkie and
Barney Robertson have been missing since March.

Cosima Marriner and Ben Cubby

May 2, 2007

PHILIPPA YELLAND knew something was wrong when her three
children were not waiting at the school gate for her to collect
them as usual on a Monday afternoon in mid-March.

And when
teachers told her the children had not turned up to their
Brisbane school that day, Ms Yelland had only one thought: "Oh
my God, he hasn't returned them."

Bokkie, 10, Matilda, 9, and Barney, 7, had spent the weekend
with their father, Murray Robertson, at his home in Winbourne
Road in the Blue Mountains town of Hazelbrook. Under their
parents' divorce settlement, the children visited their father
every third weekend.

Ms Yelland has not seen or spoken to her children since she
dropped them off at Eagle Junction State School on Friday, March
16, before that weekend with their father.

Ms Yelland, a former Fairfax journalist, has been unable to
contact her former husband, who has had his mobile phone
switched off since that weekend. "They've disappeared,
literally," she said.

In Winbourne Avenue last night, Mr Robertson's former
next-door neighbour told the Herald: "He did say once say
that if he ever had to disappear he had relatives in South
Africa, in the mountains." The man, who asked not to be named,
said Mr Robertson was an avid camper and bush-savvy. Mr
Robertson had told him that he had found a camping spot "down
out the back of Oberon where he thinks no one could ever find
him".

Mr Robertson and his children were last seen in the street
about six weeks ago.

Another neighbour said Mr Robertson was a member of a "home
church" group, in which members worshipped in each other's
houses. The woman said a truck came last week to Mr Robertson's
home and took away all his things. Last night, a bed and
mattresses were still stacked outside the single-storey green
weatherboard home.

During access visits Mr Robertson, who did not appear to
work, was actively involved in his children's play. The family
often put on impromptu theatrical shows in the backyard. Mr
Robertson did not allow the children to eat sweets.

Ms Yelland said she had no inkling her former husband would
run off with the children. "This was out of the blue,
completely."

She pleaded to the public for help in finding her children,
who are thought to still be with Mr Robertson, a South African.
Speaking via the Herald, she begged her former husband:
"Please return the children safely to me. Everyone misses them."

Asked what message she would like to send them, she said: "I
love them very much and I look forward to them coming home."

Ms Yelland said she yearned for her children and the day they
return home. "I just miss them. Their joyousness, their unending
enthusiasm. They are the most glorious children. The place is
dead without them."

For now Ms Yelland is taking comfort from
prayer. "I believe God will keep them safe. I just pray they
will be brought home safely. What else can you do?"

Rather than sitting around worrying, she has been keeping
busy, helping family and friends with chores. "There is a great
great benefit in constant activity."

The Family Court has authorised the Federal Police, state and
territory police forces and the marshal of the Family Court to
locate the Robertson children. It has allowed their names and
that of their father to be publicised in an effort to find them.